Milan Expo 2015: the entrance to the Russian national pavilion at this year's World Expo will be sheltered beneath a 30-metre-long cantilevered canopy that visitors can walk on (+ slideshow).
A team led by Russian architect Sergei Tchoban has developed a pavilion intended to celebrate Russian engineering – by adding an expansive floating entrance canopy with a curving mirrored underside and a roof garden above.
Covering an area of 4,000 square metres, the structure will be one of 145 national contributions to the expo, which takes place in Milan between May and October.
Sustainably sourced timber and glass have been selected as the main structural materials for the pavilion. A pair of transparent boxes will form the base, while the upper section will be a wooden construction that gently ascends towards the end of the canopy.
According to the team, the 30-metre-long cantilever will be both the highest point of the structure and a sculptural element in its own right, welcoming visitors inside.
"The principal challenge in the development of the design was to create a remarkable building that resonates with contemporary architectural trends," explained Tchoban, who was also the curator of the Russian pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennale.
The SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov co-founder's team looked to past Soviet and Russian pavilions for inspiration.
"Our basic starting point was to combine a simple yet memorable architectural structure with a facade formed from sustainable, ecologically-sound materials. But an equally important task in our architectural development was to inject the essence of Russia into the design," said Tchoban.
"Russia is a country of vast expanses, of endless vistas, of huge tracts of forest. Therefore, as we have embodied 'Russian-ness' in our design by framing it an apparent infinite rhythm of wooden elements, there are obvious references to the typology of Russian landscape, with its rich forest cover and its gently sloping elevations, and to the traditions of wooden architecture of Russia, all coming together to create a modest, yet daring architectural statement," he said.
After exploring the main exhibition on the ground floor, visitors will be able to ascend to the rooftop gardens.
Expo Milano opens on 1 May 2015 and bears the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life". Other proposals unveiled so far include a beehive-inspired pavilion from the UK and a three-dimensional timber lattice from France. Follow Dezeen's coverage of the expo »